You drive me crazy
by youcanalwayscomeback
Summary: This is the story of the journey of a young woman who never thought herself deserving of anything and the young man who accidentally met her, and the way their paths crossing would change each other's lives. E/É, modern AU.


_**A/N:** _Oh, Jesus, what is one supposed to say here when publishing something for the first time ever? Um, hi! This is something I have been working on for quite a while (I'm still getting started, to be quite honest, but I'm getting there!), and it's like the second multichapter story I've ever written, so I'm quite proud of it; it's become my baby! As I said, I'm still working on it and I'm proud to say I have everything kind of planned, so I know how it's going to end (which, in my case, it's a good thing considering it will help me to actually _finish_ it), but I wanted to start posting it now even if just to see how much you guys like—or don't!—like it.

Anyway, I won't entertain you further! Well, maybe a little at the end. Thank you so, so much to Hannah (_lesbiansmisunderstood_ in Tumblr) for being my amazing beta and helping me give life to this story, and to the rest—enjoy! Reviews, follows, favorites and whatnot are welcome, of course :)

* * *

**I**

"Get out of the car."

Silence. Awkward silence.

"Excuse m—?"

"Please, stop the car and get out of it."

The girl sighed quietly and cleared her throat. She attempted to park the car properly but the driving teacher's hand gestures caused her to understand he did not even want her to try.

Nervousness had taken over her, and before she even had time to do as she had been asked, her driving teacher roughly slammed on the brakes, causing them both to move forward violently. The next thing she got to see when she looked up was a blond, young man right in front of him… who she had been about to run over.

"_Fuck_," she whispered, turning to look at her right just in time to spot her teacher sighing exasperatedly and stopping the car before pointing outside for her to leave the vehicle.

She waited until they were both outside to apologize.

"I'm so sorry, I'll—I'll get better, I was just nerv—"

"You're so completely useless!" The man interrupted her, causing her to shut her eyes and unconsciously step backwards, swallowing thickly. "You're never going to get your license, so I suggest you stop trying. I refuse to keep giving you classes for nothing and—"

"Excuse me? I'm paying you for it! You're in no right to—"

"I have _every_ right, Miss! You've almost crashed the car three times, hit about five pedestrians and now this! Do you really think I'm interested in continuing to give you lessons? Now please, get out of my way before—"

"I'm afraid that is absolutely no way to treat anyone, let alone a lady."

The girl, whose mouth was already open and ready to retort with another witty comment, could do nothing but gasp in surprise as a third voice was added to her conversation with her teacher. With a little frown on her face, she turned to find out that it was none other but the blond guy she had almost chased with the car minutes before.

"Oh, I'm sorry. She's learning to drive… or trying."

"I'm not precisely looking for an apology."

She wanted to say something, she truly wanted to just stop them from talking but, by the moment she reacted, both men had started bickering over what was the proper way of treating a woman or how impolite some of the teacher's manners were.

There was only one thing in her mind as she watched how this random, unknown young man kept ranting about some shit related to women's rights and whatnot: _creepy_.

Needless to say, she soon went from wanting to interrupt them to just wanting to run away, to hide somewhere far enough from these two people and forget about that terrible, terrible day which had just started a few hours ago—because, yes, it was still _nine fucking thirty_. The worst part of it all? She still had to pay that bastard of a teacher the last lesson she had gotten.

Fortunately, it only took both people in front of her a few more minutes to stop arguing and she finally got to drop her money on the man's hand, rushing to walk away from him as soon as possible and without hesitation. Her face was still flustered with embarrassment and she wanted to disappear from that place and never have to bump into her driving teacher ever again. Her breath only started becoming normal when she was at a considerable distance from the place in question, and she even managed to smile—she had lived enough bad experiences in her life to learn how to laugh at her own fuck ups.

And the truth is, it _was_ funny… hilarious, even. She may be a shit driver and she may never get her license for real, but the expression on her teacher's face when she made all those monumental mistakes was priceless. The girl had managed to chuckle at herself when those thoughts filled her mind, but her laugh changed into a gasp by the moment she heard another voice behind her.

"Excuse me, miss?"

"Ah, fuck!" She shouted exasperatedly, turning around to face who she soon noticed was the same blond guy from before. Again, _creepy_. "Thought you had left," she stated with an aggravated sigh, slowing down the pace of her steps as she realized how he was trying to keep up with it. Was he actually following her? For fuck's sake, she needed a drink. Or four.

"No, I—uh, I was actually just wondering whether you are okay. I heard the way that man talked to you and—"

"Listen, pretty boy," she interrupted him—God, she _finally_ got to do that!—raising her index finger as if to make a point, "I can handle myself. I didn't need that little show you put up in there, you know? In fact, it only caused me more embarrassment than it should have."

The boy's expression changed into a more serious one… not that his initial one was any cheerful. In fact, his seriousness was something that surprised the girl from the very first moment she spotted him outside and in front of the car she was driving.

"I was only trying to help, miss. I apologize if I caused you any trouble and I can assure you that it was not my intention whatsoever. I just happened to hear the way he was treating you and I could not help myself from intervening, because I couldn't just stay there, arms-crossed and watching such a scene, right?"

"You actually _could_, yes. Do you go around sticking your nose in other people's business like there's no tomorrow all the time?"

"Well, if they happen to be unfair situations, I don't see why I shouldn't mediate," the man said, and his tone made it sound like he was making total sense even if the girl was getting a little more pissed with every second passed.

"Because it's not your business. Isn't that enough of a reason?" The girl watched as he opened his mouth to say something else, but she was not willing to waste her morning chatting about nonsense with someone whose name she did not even know; especially not if everything she knew about this guy was that he seemed terribly creepy. "Listen, I have somewhere to be so I'm afraid I can't keep talking to you. Farewell."

She had only taken a few steps forward when she heard his voice one more time, and she groaned quietly. Why was that morning being such a terrible one in every sense of the word?

"I defended you."

"Whoa, big deal!" She exclaimed exaggeratedly as she turned around. She was facing him again, but he hadn't bothered to approach her this time. "We should get the city hall and name a street after you. Seriously, what do you want from me? And please, don't say a fucking date because you're not getting anything if you go that way."

"You know, a simple _thank you_ would be enough," he replied and, for the first time, she was able to detect a hint of sarcasm and even a slightly teasing tone on his voice.

"Thank you so very much, your highness," the young woman mockingly stated, pretending to bow and putting on a fake smile, "I owe you my life. Oh, nothing I could ever do would be enough to show you how utterly grateful I am!"

"Just try not to run me over next time, yeah?" As if his tone was not enough for her to realize he was clearly making fun of her, the man was now smirking widely. "I'm Enjolras, by the way."

The girl frowned slightly, but instantly shook her head and smiled briefly at him as he made her way towards her again. As she watched how he held out his hand for her to squeeze it, she thought about how she had heard that name somewhere before. She could not put her finger on it, but for some reason this Enjolras guy was now familiar to her.

"Have we met?" She sheepishly inquired, an eyebrow raised as she made sure to squeeze his hand. "Whoa, that was pathetic. I was just—I was trying to—your name sounds familiar. That's all. I'm not trying to—I'm not flirting with you or anything, I swear."

Her voice, one more time, got cut off by his; this time, however, all she got to hear was a brief chuckle.

"We may have. I know a lot of people, miss. And you are…?"

"Oh," she gasped, rolling her eyes at her own stupidity. "I'm—Éponine. I'm Éponine."

"I suppose I'll see you around, Éponine. I sincerely hope next time you're not in the driver's seat of a car, though," he stated amusedly, raising his eyebrows with a smirk before turning around, starting to walk away from her slowly.

"Kindly go fuck yourself, mister Enjolras," she retorted, though her tone was now far from annoyed and surprisingly amused as well.

Éponine watched until Enjolras was out of sight to grab her cellphone, nibbling on her lower lip as she dialed the number she already knew by heart. Only a few seconds later, she finally heard the familiar voice on the other side of the phone and, not bothering to allow him to even say hello, she let out all her words in a ramble:

"Shit, R, you're not gonna believe what just happened to me."

* * *

"So you finally got to meet the Chief."

She could not see him, but judging by his voice, Éponine could tell Grantaire was clearly laughing at the way her awful morning had gone.

Right when she had told him everything, Grantaire had quickly recognized the mysterious, not-so-creepy-after-all guy that claimed to have defended her as Enjolras, even before she had time to say his name. Apparently he was like this all the time, that dumb boy.

"I promise he's not that bad as he looks like."

"He sounded _crazy_, R," she interrupted him. By what he had told her, she knew that Enjolras guy was one of Grantaire's best friends, but that would not stop her from talking shit about him. "He spent about ten minutes arguing with my driving teacher about equality and crap like that," that last comment gained her a laugh from his friend.

"Okay, yeah, he's… one of a kind. But I promise you would like him if you got to know him better. Actually—I think I have an idea," he stated, and even if she did not know what he had in mind, Éponine did not like how his tone had changed all of a sudden.

"If it involves seeing him again, don't _even_ think about it."

"Come on, Ep. You said you needed to meet more cool people, right? Let me introduce you to my friends. I promise you're gonna love them."

Éponine did not say anything for a moment, shocked that she was actually considering it. She sighed deeply after a few moments and cleared her throat.

"I'll think about it," was the last thing she said before ending the call.

After all, he was right—those were exactly the words she said to him when it had been two or three days after they first met.

In fact, it was not that they had known each other for too long. Éponine had arrived in town when the school year started; that is, about a month ago, and shortly after that she met R. She knew she would get along just fine with him when she first saw him, reeking like alcohol and clearly tipsy. She gave him kudos for daring to come to class drunk, but when he explained her that he had actually been drinking at the campus she thought it was even better.

He was one of those people she wished she could be friends with and, just like that, for the first time in her entire life, fate decided not to laugh at her or slap her in the face, but instead caused Grantaire to bump against her.

_"Oh my God," he says, and although there is an apologetic look in his eyes, the corners of his mouth are risen. "Oh, God. Did I hurt you?" He inquired and, even for a second, he managed to look actually concerned. However, it was not long until she heard him laughing out loud._

_"Are you fucking serious?" She inquired seriously because, as much as she was still amused about the whole thing and she still thought he was one of those people she might like, she was damn good at fake reactions. "You're—you're drunk… and quite fucking rude, by the way."_

_"Thank you for pointing the obvious, Miss Perfect," he vaguely argued and Éponine could not stop herself from laughing this time, because if there was something she was not, that was perfect. "And come the fuck on, like you would be any more polite than I am."_

_"You don't know me," she muttered, narrowing her eyes._

_"I know you're pretty hot," he added as he lazily yet shamelessly checked her out, and her eyes widened instantly, "and that I don't like you."_

_There it was. _I don't like you._ She had managed to screw things up again._

_"That didn't make much sense, right?" He mumbled after a few seconds, laughing to himself again._

_"You shouldn't be this drunk this early," she merely answered, shrugging one shoulder and watching him curiously. _

_"I'm always drunk," he shrugged back at her and gave her a nod of his head before turning around and waving his hand. "You should get drunk with me one day. I'm the funniest person on campus." _

_Éponine blinked, watching as he walked away from her, but ended up laughing quietly as she made a mental note to hold him up in that offer._

That started it all. From that moment on they were always like this, bickering for everything and anything, but she truly did like him. He understood her humor and he did not even ask when she was pissed off or upset or even when she looked sad, because apparently he had learned that the last thing she wanted when she was not feeling alright was someone bothering her with questions.

They had gotten drunk together several times. He had told her about his career, his paintings, and his friends; and she, had told him that she had recently arrived in town and her life was far from interesting, but she appreciated the fact that, again, he was not one to make many questions about her personal life. They bonded over music bands and songs and TV shows and movies, and they promised each other they would have marathons although they never got to keep those promises; in Grantaire's case, most likely because he usually forgot about it, and in Éponine's, because she thought he might have regretted making such promises.

R was a great friend to Éponine, especially now that she was new and alone and in need of someone to talk to, someone to keep her company, but she was genuinely surprised when he so freely decided to invite her to join him and his friends someday, so that she could get to know them. She could finally meet all those people she had heard so much about, and she felt special and touched that Grantaire did not mind bringing her with him whenever they decided to hang out. She could not be more excited about it, and her excitement grew wider as she arrived to her place.

Then again, there was the little voice inside her that told her he might not even mean it or that he might have regretted his words already. She needed to make sure and, just because of that, she grabbed her cellphone again.

"Stop being a pain in the ass, Épon—"

"Are we in that stage of our friendship where you want me to meet the rest of your friends yet, R?" She inquired before he could keep talking.

"That's—is that a trick question?"

"God, no. I'm just wondering… were you serious? Do you really want me to know them?"

Grantaire snorted.

"Of course I do! I would never get your hopes up for nothing, dumbass," he explained, "because I'm well aware that my friends are the most awesome ones in the universe and you're dying to meet the—"

"Okay, okay, that's enough. Alright, I'll go with you."

* * *

She could not believe it.

Éponine could not believe that she was actually trying to look fancy for her first actual meeting with the so-called _Amis_, but she was. She cursed herself for looking like a clown in the only old skirt she owned and she spent nearly ten minutes deciding on which shoes she should wear—which was a lot of time for her, not to mention she even put on some makeup.

"You look like a clown."

"God, go fuck yourself!" She shouted at Grantaire when she heard his first comment as soon as she opened the door of his apartment, and she quickly turned around and locked herself up in her bedroom again. The boy, on the other hand, laughed loudly at her reaction as he came in and plopped down on her old couch.

"We're just going for some beers, for fuck's sake. It's not a wedding," he said, still laughing because, apparently, she really did look terrible in that skirt.

It was settled, she would wear fucking jeans. She knew she should have picked jeans from the first moment, but she was clearly a dumbass.

The way towards wherever R's friends were meeting was silent, mostly due to Éponine's nervousness. She was normally self-confident and determined, but sometimes, only sometimes, when no one could see her, she allowed herself to be a little anxious. Fortunately for Grantaire, he was the only one, so far, who had gotten to see her like that, and she guessed it was easy for her because he never asked about it.

In fact, he was quiet as they walked, as well.

"We're going to the Café Musain," he explained after several minutes of comfortable silence, "have you heard of it? We normally meet there."

"I don't think I have," she muttered as she glanced at R. Hopefully now that she was going to meet some new people she would have the opportunity to go to new places as well.

"I think you'll like it."

Éponine knew they were almost there when she caught sight of a huge, old building where it could be read, on top of the door and with big, wooden letters, Café Musain. She took a deep breath and ran her hand across her hair. _Time to get back your self-confidence_.

"Whoa," she could hear Grantaire right when she was about to put her hand on the doorknob, and she glanced back at him raising an eyebrow.

"What?"

"You look fucking great," he admitted. That was it, the sign that Éponine was back to normal, and she smirked at his attempt to show her how he had noticed.

As they walked inside, the brunette could not help herself from looking around, completely taken aback by the nice place. It was not until she heard R's voice again that her mind went back to Earth, and she shook her head before glancing at where she eventually realized his friends were sitting.

"_Mes amis_!" He exclaimed, and he waited until he got some greetings to finally introduce her to them, grabbing her by the shoulders and shifting her closer to them. "This is my friend Éponine."

Éponine pressed her lips together with a serious expression on her face, carefully examining each of _Les Amis_ before she finally took the liberty to smile widely, waving her hand at them.

That was it. The hardest part was over.

* * *

_**A/N:** _I have to admit I am beyond nervous right now. If you got there—first of all—congratulations, and thank you so much for reading the whole first chapter! I am aware that it's not a huge one, but considering I needed to get things started, I think I kind of have an excuse for a not-so-entertaining first chapter. Just wait for an update, I believe things are going to get more interesting and you will enjoy it more and more every time; let's hope so, at least! Thank you, thank you, thank you all again for taking your time and please, review tell me what you thought of this first chapter, how you think things are going to go, what you think I could improve, etc. I will love it if you do! 3


End file.
